xi, 324 pages, 8 unnumbered leaves of plates : 24 cm

An up-close look at Edith Wilson, a first lady with unequaled responsibilities during her husband's presidency. After President Woodrow Wilson suffered a paralyzing stroke in the fall of 1919, his wife, First Lady Edith Wilson, began to handle the day-to-day responsibilities of the chief executive. Mrs. Wilson had had little formal education and had only been married to President Wilson for four years, yet in the tenuous peace following the end of World War I, she dedicated herself to managing the office of the president, reading all correspondence intended for her bedridden husband. Though her Oval Office authority was acknowledged in Washington circles at the time--one senator called her "the presidentress who had fulfilled the dream of suffragettes by changing her title from First Lady to Acting First Man"--Her legacy as the first woman president is now largely forgotten. William Hazelgrove's Madam President is a vivid, engaging portrait of the woman who became the acting president of the United States in 1919, months before women officially won the right to vote

Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-281) and index

Prologue -- The cover-up -- A bad day -- The first Mrs. Wilson -- "The President is paralyzed!" -- A modern woman -- Less is more -- Teddy and Woodrow -- Attack from within -- The ardent lover -- "The whole body will become poisoned" -- Christmas on the bottom of the ocean -- "A small-caliber man" -- "We shall be at war with Germany within a month" -- Edith and Major Craufurd-Stuart -- The Garfield precedent -- Cupid's triumph -- The petticoat government -- The other woman -- Mr. and Mrs. President -- The League fight -- Mrs. Edith goes to Washington -- Citizen Kane -- The snows of Sierra Nevada -- A smelling committee -- The shadow of war -- The coal strike and Palmer raids -- The war to end all wars -- Sunset Boulevard -- All quiet on the western front -- Judas -- The suffragettes -- Our own country -- As dead as Marley's ghost -- On the road -- Merciless to the end -- A broken piece of machinery -- Edith at large -- The first woman president

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